Year of the Tiger

        Next week we will be entering the lunar/Chinese Year of the Tiger (the water tiger, to be specific), and that always makes an excellent excuse to celebrate with block prints.  As you can imagine, tigers are a pretty popular subject for block prints: not only are they large charismatic mammals, but they have a great graphic pop that translates well to the graphic nature of relief block prints.  Nevertheless, there’s a broad diversity in how various artists have depicted these iconic animals.

        We begin with a couple of Japanese wood block prints, and unfortunately neither is dated, although I’m guessing that the first may be around the 1920s and the second around 

the 1960s.  I definitely like the first one best, with its powerful realism, beautiful wood grain, and dramatic crescent moon.  On the other hand, the second is certainly fun for contrast.  It’s by Toshijiro Inagaki whom I’ve featured before, whose distinctive style is influenced by his background designing kimono fabric.  It’s definitely got more of a pussy-cat vibe.

        Stepping over to Europe and back in time, we’ve got another tiger that looks rather cheerful and friendly, although probably not intentionally!  This one comes from Topsell’s seventeenth-century encyclopedia, and the anonymous artist had almost certainly never seen a tiger.  The next piece isn’t “realistic,” either, but this is done with deliberate stylization.  It’s by Stephen Alcorn, whose other animals I featured recently.  His tiger’s patterns are very interesting, and not at all the plain solid black and solid orange stripes you would expect.

        Finally, two roaring tiger faces, the first by Albertine von Bresslern-Roth, another artist whose animals I’ve featured in a previous post.  She often has a wonderful touch of Art Deco about her style, and although it’s less evident in this piece, she clearly celebrates that dynamic, sinuous power.  This is not a tiger to mess with!  And we end with a tiger made to 

celebrate Chinese new year.  Artist Andrew Valko has done something interesting with making the tiger’s face blend with an all-over patterned background — which of course is what tigers actually do in their jungle habitats.

        Six tigers, six different styles, and many many wishes that we all enter into a year of resilience, tenacity, celebration of blessings… and lots of beautiful art.  (Plus a couple more tigers you can revisit here: Big Bold Cats by Artzybasheff.)

[Pictures: Roaring Tiger over the Crescent Moon, color woodbock print by Ohara Koson, early 20th century (Image from Galerie bei der Oper);

Tiger, wood block print by Toshijiro Inagaki, mid-20th century (Image from Fuji Arts);

Of the Tiger, wood block print from The history of four-footed beasts and serpents by Edward Topsell, 1658 (Image from Internet Archive);

The Tiger, color relief-block print by Stephen Alcorn, 1988 (Image from The Alcorn Studio & Gallery);

Tiger’s Roar, color linocut by Norbertine von Bresslern-Roth, first half of 20th century (Image from Skinner)

Year of the Tiger, woodcut by Andrew Valko, 1998 (Image from AndrewValko.com).]